Directions for Playing

Queen’s Guards

A game played by two persons. Each player has seven pieces - a Queen and six Guards. Each places his Queen on the corner space in front of him and the Guards are then arranged alternately on the outermost row, as shown on board. The object of the game is to get a Queen into the center with her Guards ranged on six spaces around her. The player who first gets his pieces in this position wins.

The players move alternately after the first move has been decided. Any piece may be moved one space forward or sideways, but never backward. If any Guard gets between two hostile pieces so that the three form a straight line on adjacent spaces, such Guard must be taken up on the next move, and placed somewhere on the outermost row. If the Queen gets in a similar situation, she must likewise be taken up, but she may be placed anywhere on the board. In playing, it is well to try to arrange the pieces so that several of the enemy’s Guards can be taken up in succession, rather than to throw back one piece alone, for in the latter case that piece is often able to secure a good position. As no piece can be moved backward, he who has a man in the rear has an advantage. It is a good plan to keep one man back and hurry the others forward, keeping them together as closely as possible.

Rules

• 1st. None by Queens must occupy the center space.
• 2nd. Of two or more pieces liable to be thrown back at one time the Queen, if she be one, must be taken up first, and the others may be taken in any order the player chooses, the removal of each piece counting as a move.
• 3rd. If a piece be touched preparatory to moving, it must be moved or the move be lost.
• 4th. If the six Guards are placed in circle surrounding the center space, leaving the Queen outside, the player of them forfeits the game.